Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A few things about Sanders

As you have probably guessed, taking pictures every day is not my thing. This post would be perfect with a cute picture of Sanders, but alas I did not think of it until just now.

Sanders is either super happy or supper grumpy. You ALWAYS know how he is feeling. He is a big goofball and is often found singing as he is walking silly and waggling his head just to get a laugh. He's also been known to throw a big, huge fit if made to wear a shirt he doesn't think flatters him that day.

He skips nearly everywhere he goes. It's the most delightful thing to watch.

He wants to be my pickiest eater ever, but what he doesn't realize fully is that doesn't work for our family. So he has a few hard lessons ahead of him. For example, tonight he didn't like what we had for dinner. Tough luck, Mister. You may be young-er but I know you won't ever let yourself starve.

It finally came down to he had to have at least ONE bite before he could get down (not before he got different food, that wasn't an option). We put one bite of food on a fork and then sat next to him on the table.

He whined, and pleaded, and sang, and made silly faces, and blew kisses. But picky eating doesn't fit in our family life style and I won't encourage it not matter how stubborn they chose to be. They don't have to like everything that is made for dinner but they do have to be grateful for the time and effort that goes into feeding anyone. That is done by eating something that isn't what they would have chosen. They don't have to eat ALL of it, but they need to show gratitude.

Lest you think this rule completely harsh, lunch is a lot more laid back. There are more options and I am willing to cater to everyone's cravings. They still need to be grateful for the service they are receiving, but they do have more of a say.

Dinner is different. Everyone is tired by then. I want to be able to sit down and actually eat with my family----not be running around fixing different things for everyone. One meal works best for that.

He chose to sit there for 30 minutes after everyone had finished. He knew what he had to do. He's a very smart boy.

Eventually, getting out and playing with his siblings out weighed winning the picky-eating battle. He willingly picked up his own fork, put it in his mouth, chewed, swallowed with a big smile on his face and we all celebrated!

That's the thing about us. We celebrate BIG time for well chosen decisions. Even decisions as small as one bite of food.

5 comments:

Chrissy said...

Stay strong Mama, that is never a fun battle to wage. I also really like the celebration of good choices, even small ones. :)

Lawson Family said...

We have the very same rule and Brightynn, our pickiest, has gone to bed a few nights without even a single bite. Once, she looked at the food and said, "I'm not having snacks tomorrow" and walked away(referring to not really eating any dinner forfits any snacks for the next day) We should have a stubborn match between our kids!
:0) Okay-At the rate I'm going on this comment, I should probably go on post on my own blog, huh?

my rebel took over said...

When people ask me about my twins I say the best thing that describes them is "One of these things is not like the other...". Abby is a picky eater to the extreme. So much so that when she was a toddler, she had to be medicated for severe constipation for about a year. What led up to that decision was awful. Plus it took me six months before that to convince them that telling me over and over again to "offer her more variety of foods" just wasn't cutting it and she was in pain. Thankfully, with the twin situation I could just point to my other daughter and say, "Grace eats almost everything. She loves food and eats a very well balanced diet. So please stop telling me I need to offer more variety when I clearly already do."

We tried to take the firm, you will eat what we cook route with her and at just shy of two years old, she went three full days with no food. I kid you not. It was at that point that we agreed this was a battle that wasn't worth winning. Yes, of course she would eventually cave and eat something. The survival instinct doesn't allow you not to, but would it have been worth it? I don't think so.

As she's gotten older and can tell us what she doesn't like about different foods (even the one's she's willing to eat) it's become pretty clear that food is a different experience for her. There's definitely a texture thing going on, but I'm now pretty sure that things don't smell the same to her as they do to us. And that has a huge impact on taste.

So as much as it pains me, and it's annoying, she eats waffles, dino nuggets (or nuggets from Wendy's or McDonalds), pizza from one of two pizza places, apples, peanuts and peanut butter.

That's. It.

I'm just grateful that there's a fruit and some protein she eats and that she'll suffer through a vitamin everyday.

And she has attempted a few times to cut dino nuggets out of her diet, but we're on to her(a little late for a few other foods she used to like) and just aren't allowing it. I get that food tastes bad to you, but I will NOT allow you to cut out something you like from your diet! There's so little left!

Grace, unfortunately gets to eat what I cook for her, since I know for the most part she will. She so rarely objects to what I make for her that I generally will make her something else once I've eaten if she wants it. But we're talking maybe once every three months that happens. I have to give a little since I clearly cook something separate for Abby. I don't need everyone hating me over food!

I have no idea why I wrote that extremely long comment, but there it is!

Emilie said...

Amy,

That sounds like a huge struggle. I did not mean to negate or lessen any of the clearly good parenting you have given Abby. I'm am very sorry if I did.

I think as parents we need to remember that every kid is different. And a battle worth fighting with one is not even close worth fighting with another.I agree, three days without food and I would totally call the battle off.

Thank you for sharing a glimpse into your life. I LOVED the long comment. More please!

my rebel took over said...

Sorry Em, I didn't mean to get all preachy on you. I wasn't bothered by your post at all. It just got me thinking about what we put up with from Abby's eating habits and I guess I had a need to expound on the topic!

Believe me, if she weren't so extreme, I'd be all over the eat-what-we-cook option. Although I think it's fair to give kids a few hated foods they're allowed to opt out of, no questions asked. But that's just my childhood distaste for mushrooms (which I now LOVE) talking. So grateful my mother never made me eat them!